This is always a volatile number, but given the concern that businesses are slowing investment ahead of the Fiscal Cliff, it's going to be an important one to watch.

Nomura has the preview:

US durable goods orders (8:30 EDT): Orders for Boeing planes climbed higher in October and provide support to the headline data. We expect orders to increase by 0.8% in October (Consensus: -0.7%, previous: 9.8%). Excluding the effect of transportation orders, we expect orders to decline by 0.6% in October, reflecting an earlier reported drop in industrial production of manufactured goods due to factory shutdowns around Hurricane Sandy.